Ant-Trap. Page: 2 of 2
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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.
G. W. COTTINGHAM AND JOHN S. MENEFEE, OF TEXANA, TEXAS.
ANT-TRAP.
Specification of Letters Patent No. 29,468, dated August 7, 1860.To all whom it may concern:
Be it known that we, G. W. COTTINGHA
and Joms S. MENEFEE, of Texana, in the
county of Jackson and State of Texas, have
5 invented a new and Improved Trap for
Catching Ants; and we do hereby declare
that the following is a full, clear, and exact
description of the same, reference being had
to the accompanying drawings, forming a
10 part of this specification, in which--
Figure 1 is a plan, and Fig. 2, a vertical
central section of the device.
Similar letters of reference in each of the
several figures indicate corresponding parts.
15 The nature of our invention consists, 1st,
in the arrangement of a receptacle with an
inverted conical spout in its bottom, for the
purpose hereinafter to be described.
It consists, 2nd, in the combination of a
20 receptacle and inverted conical spout in its
bottom with an inwardly bent rim around
the top of the receptacle, in the manner and
for the purpose hereinafter to be described.
It consists, 3rd, in the combination of a,
25 receptacle and conical spout in its bottom,
with extension tubes, for the purpose here-
inafter to be described.
The object of the implement is to prevent
the ravages committed by ants, by gathering
30 the animals from an ant bed into a receptacle
which they cannot escape from and can eas-
ily be destroyed.
The receptacle A, is open at top and has
a central hole in its bottom, from which an
35 inverted conical spout B, extends upward
with a bent down rim C, around its top
edge, as seen in Fig. 2. The top rim of the
box is also bent down toward the interior of
the box in the form of a frustum of a cone
40 or a separate rim of the form as described
may be placed on top of the receptacle, so
that it may be detached if not required.
The receptacle is placed with the center
hole in the bottom fitting over an ant hole
45 J, so that the ants, as they come out of the
ant hole and run up the inside of the spout
B, which is roughened by covering its sur-
face with glue and sand or the like sub-
stances, pass over the rim C, of the spout
50 into the receptacle A. The inside of this
receptacle is also smooth so as to prevent
the animals from crawling up the sides of
the receptacle. The perfectly smooth sur-
face of the inside of rim D, however prevents
55 those of the ants which may contrive to run
up the sides of the receptacle, from crawl-ing around said rim and out of the recep-
tacle. They slip off the rim and fall down
into the receptacle.
Expansion tubes F, G, with one end 60
curved, as seen at E, and the other end
trumpet shaped, as seen at H, may be em-
ployed to gather the animals from other ant
holes into the central receptacle A.
The flaring ends H, of the pipes G, are 65
placed over such ant holes J', and the curved
ends E, of the pipes F, are hung over the
rim D. of receptacle A, so that the ants run-
ning from the holes J', up the pipes G, F,
will also finally fall into receptacle A. 70
Pipes which slide into each other, as repre-
sented in Fig. 2, or any other extension or
flexible pipes, may be employed for the pur-
pose. In this manner an ant bed may, in
a very short time, become freed from those 75
destructive animals, when the apparatus
may be transferred to another ant-bed, and
so forth.
By embanking the earth all around the
box, the ants that happen to be out at the 80
time the device is placed on the ground, will
afterward crawl up said embankment and
tumble over the smooth rim of the receptacle
into the latter and be caught in this manner.
Some alkali may be placed in the bottom 85
of the receptacle so as to kill the ants that
are gathered in the receptacle. A cover S,
as represented in red' in Fig. 2, may be
placed over the spout so as to darken the
opening and prevent the ants from seeing 90
the light before they arrive at the rim and
tumble over it into the receptacle.
What we claim as our invention and desire
to secure by Letters Patent is-
1. The arrangement of a receptacle with 95
an inverted conical spout in its bottom, sub-
stantially as and for the purposes set forth.
2. The combination of a receptacle and
inverted conical spout in its bottom with an
inwardly bent rim around the top of the re- 10o
ceptacle, substantially as and for the pur-
poses set forth.
3. The combination of a receptacle and
conical spout in its bottom, with extension
tubes substantially as and for the purposes 105
set forth.
G. W. COTTINGHAM.
JOHN S. MENEFEE.
Witnesses:
JA iEs W. ALLEN,
BENJAMIN I. WITE.
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Cottingham, G. W. & Menefee, John S. Ant-Trap., patent, August 7, 1860; [Washington D.C.]. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth165108/m1/2/: accessed May 6, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries Government Documents Department.